1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer program and an apparatus for generating test specifications, and more particularly to a computer program and an apparatus for automatically generating system test specifications for a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of conventional techniques in the field stated above, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-282666 (1999) discloses a test specification generator that uses design data repositories created in the design stage in order to produce a test specification automatically for use in a subsequent test stage. The resulting test specification enables efficient execution of testing tasks, thus contributing to improved productivity of system development.
While the above conventional technique works well for development of new systems, a problem may arise after the development is finished, particularly when it becomes necessary to review the systems for the purpose of retesting or redesigning. Suppose, for example, that some part of an existing computer system is modified or expanded several years after its deployment. In such a case, the entire system, rather than the limited portion of the system that has been modified or expanded, has to be tested again. The passage of time, however, often makes it difficult to collect necessary design data of the system. Specifically, the original design documents may have been lost, or even if some of such documents have survived, their content may not always be sufficient for the new development team to modify the system. The key engineers who developed the original system may be no longer accessible for consultation.
Usage and operations of a computer system are not always consistent with time. Rather, some part of the original system design may become obsolete or impractical during its long time use. A gap may arise between the real-life use of the system and what the system engineers assumed at the time of design. Some users may interact with the system often in an unexpected way, as opposed to the designers' intention at the development phase.
When an existing system is modified, one could perform again a thorough test on the entire system, covering all flows of operations as the scope of the test, and assuming every possible usage of the system that one can think of. This approach is, however, unrealistic since such an exhaustive system test includes testing of obsolete operation flows that never occur in actual business situations.